If you only trust one list of dessert spots Los Angeles has to offer, make it this one: the hakka mochi at Joy on York, the apple pie skillet at Jones Hollywood, and the PJ Sundae at Pasjoli are the three orders that come up again and again in every serious LA dessert conversation. Add Magpies Softserve for chef-driven soft serve and Diddy Riese for a cheap, iconic ice cream cookie sandwich, and you’ve got a starting five that spans the city. Twelve more picks, organized by neighborhood, dessert type, and hours, follow below.
TL;DR:
- Joy on York’s hakka mochi is chewy, not overly sweet, and best enjoyed on weekdays to avoid long lines.
- Pasjoli’s PJ Sundae and burnt Basque cheesecake require reservations and are best for a full sit-down dining experience.
- Diddy Riese cookie sandwiches, often the most affordable option, typically have lines after 9 p.m., especially during weekends.
- Salt & Straw offers limited-season flavors, with long weekend lines, making weekday visits more reliable.
- Late-night dessert options include Jones Hollywood for the skillet apple pie and Diddy Riese for cookie sandwiches, but some spots close earlier.
Table of Contents
- The Best Dessert Spots in Los Angeles, Item by Item
- Best Dessert Spots by Type
- Where to Find Late-Night Dessert in LA
- How to Pick the Right Spot for the Occasion
- Why This Guide Holds Up
- Getting There: Parking, Transit, and Access Notes
- What Each Dessert Spot Actually Costs
- Vegan and Gluten-Free Options Across the List
- The Feel of Each Spot: Casual, Trendy, or Family-Friendly
- Seasonal Drops Worth Watching For
- My Own LA Dessert Crawl
- Plan Your Dessert Outing With Socalsights
- Sources
The Best Dessert Spots in Los Angeles, Item by Item
This is the actual bucket list. Each entry names the exact thing to order, not just the shop, because in a city this stacked with sweets, ordering the wrong item is the real risk.
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Joy on York (Highland Park) — hakka mochi. This is the dessert LA food writers can’t stop mentioning, and for good reason. The hakka mochi at Joy on York is chewy, not overly sweet, and unlike anything else on this list, which is exactly why it belongs here first. Go on a weekday afternoon if you want to skip a line.
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Pasjoli (Santa Monica) — PJ Sundae or burnt Basque cheesecake. Pasjoli treats dessert like a main event, not an afterthought, and its PJ Sundae and burnt Basque cheesecake prove it. Reservations are smart here since it’s a full sit-down restaurant, not a walk-up counter, so plan the dessert around a dinner booking rather than a standalone stop.
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Jones Hollywood (Hollywood) — apple pie on a cast iron skillet. Warm, shareable, and served bubbling in its own skillet, Jones’ apple pie is the kind of dessert built for splitting across a table of four. It’s also one of the few genuinely dependable options after 11 p.m., which earns it a second mention later in this guide.
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Magpies Softserve (multiple locations) — soft-serve pie. Chef-owned and scratch-made, Magpies turns soft serve into something closer to pastry, layering it into actual pie form with rotating seasonal flavors. Check the flavor board before you order since the lineup changes often.
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Diddy Riese (Westwood) — ice cream cookie sandwich. A UCLA institution that’s stayed cheap and consistent for decades, Diddy Riese lets you pick two cookies and a scoop for a price that still feels like a steal. Expect a line most evenings, especially after 9 p.m. when the campus crowd rolls in.
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Salt & Straw (multiple locations) — seasonal small-batch scoop. Known citywide for inventive, ingredient-driven flavors that rotate by season, Salt & Straw rewards asking staff for a taste before committing. Weekend afternoons bring long lines, so weekday visits are the move.
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Sweet Angeles (Beverly Hills) — Dubai chocolate bar. This bakery built its reputation on the Dubai chocolate bar, a pistachio-and-chocolate bar that’s become one of the more talked-about bakery items in the city. Custom cakes are also a specialty if you’re planning ahead for a celebration.
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The Apple Pan (West LA) — banana cream pie. A no-frills counter that’s been serving the same classic pies for generations, The Apple Pan’s banana cream pie is the kind of old-school dessert that doesn’t need a trend cycle to stay relevant. Cash and counter seating only, so come with patience and small bills.
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La Casita Mexicana (Bell) — flan or tres leches. For a genuinely traditional take on Mexican dessert, La Casita Mexicana’s flan and tres leches are dense, rich, and worth the drive south of downtown. Pair either with coffee if you’re staying for a full meal.
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Antico Nuovo (Downtown/Arts District) — honeycomb ice cream. Restaurant desserts don’t always get top billing, but Antico Nuovo’s honeycomb ice cream is proof that a chef-driven kitchen can make a simple scoop feel like a signature dish. Order it after a pasta course, not instead of one.
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Badash Bakes — matcha cinnamon roll. A newer name that’s earned its spot on serious dessert maps for a matcha cinnamon roll that balances bitterness and sweetness better than most bakery riffs on the trend.
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Cento Raw Bar — mosaic ube cheesecake. An unexpected pairing spot since it’s known for raw seafood, Cento’s mosaic ube cheesecake shows up on chef-driven dessert lists for its color and texture as much as its flavor, a good reminder that some of the best desserts in the city are hiding in restaurants that aren’t dessert shops at all.
Best Dessert Spots by Type
Sometimes you know exactly what you’re craving before you know where to go. Here’s how the city breaks down by category.
- Ice cream and soft serve: Salt & Straw for rotating small-batch flavors, Magpies Softserve for scratch-made soft-serve pies, and Antico Nuovo for a chef’s take on a simple honeycomb scoop.
- Pastries and bakery items: Sweet Angeles in Beverly Hills for the Dubai chocolate bar and custom cakes, Badash Bakes for the matcha cinnamon roll.
- Specialty ethnic desserts: Joy on York in Highland Park for hakka mochi, La Casita Mexicana in Bell for flan and tres leches.
- Shareable restaurant desserts: Pasjoli in Santa Monica for the PJ Sundae and burnt Basque cheesecake, Cento Raw Bar for the mosaic ube cheesecake.
- Classic Westside institutions: The Apple Pan for banana cream pie, Diddy Riese near UCLA for cookie sandwiches.
That spread covers the Westside, Central LA, the East side, Koreatown-adjacent neighborhoods, and points south, so wherever you’re starting from, something worthwhile is within a reasonable drive.
Where to Find Late-Night Dessert in LA
Cravings don’t respect closing times, and neither should your dessert plans. Here’s what to hit after 11 p.m.:
- Jones Hollywood stays reliable late into the night for that skillet apple pie, and it functions as a full restaurant, so you can order a real dinner alongside it.
- Diddy Riese in Westwood often runs late thanks to the college crowd, making it a solid stop if you’re already out near campus.
- Salt & Straw locations vary by hour, so check the specific shop before heading over.
- Magpies Softserve counters keep evening hours that work well after a movie or a late dinner nearby.
- The Apple Pan closes earlier than the others, so treat it as an early-evening stop rather than a true late-night one.
- La Casita Mexicana pairs well with a late dinner if flan is the goal rather than a standalone dessert run.
Late-night dessert guides consistently point to Jones and a handful of similar spots as the dependable after-hours options in a city where most bakeries close by 8 or 9 p.m.
Pro Tip: Street parking near Hollywood and Westwood gets tight after 9 p.m. on weekends, so budget an extra ten minutes to circle the block or use a paid lot rather than counting on curb space right outside.
How to Pick the Right Spot for the Occasion
Match the visit to three things: dessert type, service model, and setting. A date night calls for a sit-down spot like Pasjoli where the dessert caps a full meal. A quick solo craving is better served by a counter shop like Diddy Riese or Magpies, where you’re in and out in ten minutes. Kids do best somewhere casual and fast, not somewhere with a wait list.
Watch for two red flags before you drive across town:
- No visible line management or ordering system at a popular spot usually means a longer wait than posted hours suggest.
- Seasonal or limited-run items (a specific soft-serve pie flavor, a holiday cake) may not be available when you show up, so it’s worth a quick call or social media check first.
Two questions solve most of this in advance: does the spot take reservations, and is the item you want a seasonal one-off or a permanent menu fixture?
Why This Guide Holds Up
Socalsights builds these lists the way a local would text a friend: specific items, specific neighborhoods, no filler. Every spot here gets checked against what actual LA food coverage and shop menus say, not just what’s trending that week, and entries get revisited as menus and hours shift. Community tips from locals factor in too, since the person who drove to La Casita Mexicana last month knows more about current wait times than any old review does. Expect this list to get refreshed as seasonal items rotate and new spots earn their place.
Getting There: Parking, Transit, and Access Notes
Most of these spots sit in car-dependent parts of LA, so plan parking before you plan the order. Westwood spots like Diddy Riese sit inside UCLA’s orbit, where metered street parking is common but competitive during the school year. Highland Park, home to Joy on York, has more forgiving street parking but narrower sidewalks, worth knowing if you’re navigating with a stroller or wheelchair.
Santa Monica’s Pasjoli and Beverly Hills’ Sweet Angeles both sit in areas with paid lots and structures nearby, which tend to be more reliable than street parking during dinner rush. Downtown’s Antico Nuovo benefits from the Arts District’s mix of street parking and nearby lots, though weekend evenings get tight.
Public transit covers some of this ground: Metro’s Expo Line reaches Downtown and parts of the Westside, and Metro Rapid buses run through Hollywood and Westwood corridors. Still, LA’s dessert map rewards a car far more than it rewards transit, particularly if you’re stringing together more than one stop in an evening.
Wheelchair access varies by shop rather than by neighborhood. Counter-service spots like Magpies and Diddy Riese tend to have street-level entry and minimal seating obstacles. Sit-down restaurants like Pasjoli and Antico Nuovo, being full-service establishments, generally meet standard accessibility expectations for seating and restrooms, but calling ahead for specific needs is always the safer move.
What Each Dessert Spot Actually Costs
Dessert in LA spans a wide range, and knowing the rough price bracket before you go helps you plan a crawl without surprises. Counter-service spots keep things affordable: Diddy Riese’s cookie sandwiches and Magpies’ soft-serve cups typically run in the affordable, under ten dollar range per person, making them easy to stack into a multi-stop outing without blowing a budget.
Bakery items land in the middle. Sweet Angeles’ Dubai chocolate bar and similar specialty items tend to cost more than a basic cookie but less than a restaurant dessert course, reflecting the ingredients and craft involved. Joy on York’s hakka mochi falls into this same moderate bracket, priced like a specialty bakery treat rather than a quick snack.
Restaurant desserts carry the highest price tags on this list, which makes sense given they’re built into full dining experiences. Pasjoli’s PJ Sundae and Antico Nuovo’s honeycomb ice cream are priced the way a proper restaurant dessert course should be, often ten to fifteen dollars or more, since you’re paying for plating and technique alongside the ingredients. The Apple Pan sits closer to the affordable end despite being a sit-down counter, keeping its classic pies accessible.
Budgeting a dessert crawl around one restaurant stop and two or three counter stops keeps the overall cost reasonable while still covering a range of styles.
Vegan and Gluten-Free Options Across the List
Dietary restrictions don’t have to sideline a dessert outing in LA, though the options are unevenly spread across this list. Salt & Straw has built a reputation for rotating dairy-free and vegan scoop options alongside its standard menu, making it one of the more dependable stops for anyone avoiding dairy. Magpies Softserve also tends to offer plant-based swaps at select locations, though flavor availability shifts by shop, so a quick call ahead saves a wasted trip.
Gluten-free eaters have fewer guaranteed options among the core bucket-list items. Ice cream and soft serve are naturally easier to adapt than baked goods, so Salt & Straw and Magpies remain safer bets than pastry-heavy stops like Sweet Angeles or Badash Bakes, where gluten is baked into the core product.
Restaurant desserts often have more flexibility than counter shops simply because a kitchen can accommodate a substitution on request. Pasjoli and Antico Nuovo, as full-service restaurants, are generally better positioned to handle a dietary note passed along at the time of reservation than a walk-up bakery counter would be. If a specific allergy is non-negotiable, calling ahead beats guessing at the counter every time.
The Feel of Each Spot: Casual, Trendy, or Family-Friendly
The vibe shifts as much as the menu does across this list, and matching the setting to your plans matters as much as matching the dessert. Diddy Riese and The Apple Pan lean thoroughly casual and unpretentious, the kind of counter spots where a family with kids or a group of tired students blends right in without a second glance.
Joy on York and Badash Bakes sit closer to trendy without tipping into stuffy, the sort of places where a photo of your order feels natural rather than forced. Sweet Angeles in Beverly Hills leans polished, with a bakery display case built for browsing and gifting, which makes it a stronger fit for a special errand than a quick solo stop.
Pasjoli and Antico Nuovo are full restaurants first, dessert spots second, meaning the ambiance is dinner-appropriate: dim lighting, table service, a slower pace suited to couples or small groups rather than a fast in-and-out visit. La Casita Mexicana carries a warm, family-run feel that suits a multi-generational meal rather than a quick stop between errands. Knowing which category you’re walking into saves the awkwardness of showing up in flip-flops to a white-tablecloth restaurant, or overdressing for a paper-cup soft-serve counter.
Seasonal Drops Worth Watching For
Some of the best items on this list aren’t permanent menu fixtures, which is exactly why checking ahead matters before a special trip. Magpies Softserve rotates its soft-serve pie flavors seasonally, meaning the exact combination that made headlines in the summer may be gone by fall, replaced by something built around whatever fruit or flavor profile is peaking that month.
Salt & Straw built its entire brand identity around limited-run, season-specific flavors, often tied to local ingredients or collaborations that only last a few weeks at a time. That unpredictability is part of the appeal, but it means a flavor a friend raved about last month might not be on the board when you show up.
Bakery items follow a similar pattern around holidays. Sweet Angeles tends to introduce cake and gift-box options tied to major holidays, and specialty bars like the Dubai chocolate bar have surged in availability as demand has grown, meaning stock can run out faster than expected during peak interest windows. When a specific seasonal item is the entire reason for a trip, a quick call or social media check beats a wasted drive.
My Own LA Dessert Crawl
Treat dessert as the main event for one afternoon and you’ll understand more about LA’s food culture than a dozen regular dinners could teach you. Here’s the crawl I’d actually run: start at Diddy Riese near UCLA around 2 p.m. for a cheap cookie sandwich and easy parking before the evening rush. Drive to Magpies Softserve for a soft-serve pie around 4 p.m., timed before dinner crowds build. End at Pasjoli in Santa Monica for a proper dinner and the PJ Sundae, booked ahead since it’s the one stop that needs a reservation. Three stops, one afternoon, and a real cross-section of what makes this city’s dessert scene worth taking seriously.
— Joshua
Plan Your Dessert Outing With Socalsights
Socalsights is the shortcut for turning a list like this into an actual afternoon, without the hours of cross-referencing hours, menus, and neighborhoods yourself. Where a generic search leaves you guessing which spots are still open or worth the drive, Socalsights builds curated, neighborhood-based guides that pair naturally with a dessert crawl, like our guide to the best coffee in LA for pairing a morning cup with an afternoon treat, or unique things to do in Los Angeles for building out a fuller day around your dessert stops.
If you want a mapped, ready-to-follow itinerary instead of piecing one together from scratch, start with Fun Activities Near Me for local picks organized by neighborhood, and build your next outing around whichever dessert spot from this list is closest to home.
Sources
- Where To Eat Dessert After 11pm – Los Angeles – The Infatuation
- LA Times review of Joy on York
- The Best Desserts to Save Room for in Los Angeles | Eater LA
- Magpies Softserve: scratch made Softserve and Softserve Pies in Los Angeles